Eraser

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Editors' Review

A few minor complaints aside, this free file shredder is by and large a solid find. Eraser's all-business interface won't win any design awards, but it's mostly convenient to use, allowing you to add files or folders to be deleted via drag-and-drop transfers. However, since the program lacks a dedicate deletion button or icon, you'll have to dig through the menu items to actually erase data. This misstep is somewhat negated by the fact that Eraser integrates into the Windows' context menu, letting you shred files via a right click. We're glad to see the program lets you choose from four secure government-sanctioned deletion algorithms, and we appreciate the inclusion of a scheduler, handy for routinely wiping free disk space. In our tests, Eraser got rid of a 1GB file in 10 minutes--impressive, considering we employed the most secure deletion method. Anyone seeking to eradicate documents for good should take a long look at this freebie.

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Publisher's Description

Eraser is an advanced security tool for Windows that allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Guttmann's paper Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory and are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive.

Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the U.S. Department of Defense, and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

Installing this software substantially increases user risk, though it promises the opposite.1. Appears and disappears.2. Erasures always complete with errors3. When I tried to uninstall/re-install my pc got infected with a virus that WEBROOT detected and removed.4. Other problems since installation may have been due to this software. Time will tell now that I have uninstalled it.5. CNN needs to revise its criteria for listing and keeping a listing for software such as this.6. Software such as this should be held to a much higher standard, just as human officials, e.g., police, judges, etc.

Summary

Installing this software substantially increases user risk, though it promises the opposite.

do NOT download this waste of time and effort...Eraser 5 is still the only working (?) removal software that can be shown to overwrite magnetic memory to make bytes unrecoverable. However, \does not erase file structure information so that the file names are still listed and recovered...not a complete removal of all information which would be needed to safely and completely remove all information. Joel needs to rework this if he seriously wants to improve this code. I would not trust this program to perform as promised and I believe those who tout it are superficial newbies who have no clue as to what is going on.

I can't believe that Cnet actually endorses this CRAP!
1. It doesn't work - won't complete past 90%, even after 4+ hours!
2.It maxxed-out my hard drive!
3. It automatically installs several other unwanted garbage/CRAP programs without giving you the option to deselect from stadard download.
4. It's riddled with design flaws and is anything but user-friendly, plus the interface is about 15 years behind.
Hey Cnet - Eraser is by far the biggest piece of time-wasting BS I've ever found on your site! You need to review it and warn your readers.

Summary

Don't even think about it... run as fast and far as you can to a different software source!

Intuitive interface, easy to set up and use, decent documentation does what it says it does.

Cons

The software could use more informative logging and/or summary report of tasks performed.

Summary

This product is getting a bad rap here at CNET.com because of the INSTALLER. The CNET installer has SEVERAL superfluous BUNDLEWARE items that you have to choose not to install. Google "heidi erase" and then download the bundleware-free installer from SOURCEFORGE.NET -- you will probably realize that this is a good or even excellent free product that does the job!

I just spent the last hour attempting to download Eraser to an older XP machine, with the goal being to safely erase personal files from the pc before giving it away. While the effort was time-consuming, all indications showed that the Eraser file downloaded from cnet, "cbsidlm-tr1_13-Eraser-SEO-10231814", had properly initiated the "Eraser" download of program files. In addition to these files, a Microsoft.NET update was apparently required (I have my doubts on this). Anyway, the Eraser and Microsoft.NET downloads indicated they were properly completed, then surprisingly the only program to be found on my pc that was new was "MyPC Backup", a program requiring registration and providing no indication that Eraser was to be found somewhere beyond "MyPC Backup" registration.

Again, all indications were that "Eraser" -- E-r-a-s-e-r -- was properly downloading and then had completely downloaded with installation of it and Microsoft.NET. However via icons, the start menu, and a search of the Program Files folder, there was not a single thing to be found regarding Eraser.

In short, Eraser is just a bogus program as far as I am concerned. I followed their setup file's guidance and got zip, zilch, nada, niente, despite positive indications to the contrary.

I recommend not bothering with any effort to download Eraser; it's just a bunch of hooey and you may get undesired code on your pc to boot.

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